COLUMBUS - Amanda-Clearcreek punched its ticket to the Sweet 16 the old-fashioned way Friday night against Marion Pleasant.

The Aces were stifling on defense, from start to finish, in a 45-26 Division III district final win at Ohio Dominican University.

It was Amanda-Clearcreek’s first district title since 2009. The Aces (21-5) advance to a regional semifinal against the Western Reserve-Margaretta winner at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Lexington High School.

“We only had a few days to prep for them, but they run kind of an open-post motion-type offense with some ball screens, which are basic defensive stuff that we started working on the first day of practice,” Amanda-Clearcreek coach Cary James said. “We have had 71 practices and we emphasize it every day, so it wasn’t anything new that we had to prep for, we just had to make sure we were sharp. I thought we did a good job of being real focused and real sharp at what we do.”

The Aces, who upset the No. 2 seed Cardington, 56-55, Tuesday to reach the district final, didn’t give the Spartans any breathing room. Even though Amanda-Clearcreek struggled, offensively, especially in the first half, it didn’t matter because the Aces’ defense was suffocating.

Pleasant was doing a good job holding the Aces’ Alyssa Evans, who scored 35 points against Cardington, in check in the first half. She only had four points in the first two quarter. It allowed the Spartans to take an 8-6 first-quarter lead.

Pleasant led 13-8 early in the second quarter, but from that point on, it was all Amanda-Clearcreek. The Aces held the Spartans scoreless for the final 5:52 of the first half. Amanda-Clearcreek finished the half on a 9-0 run to take a 17-13 halftime lead.

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The Amanda-Clearcreek girls basketball team won the Division III district championship Friday night after defeating Pleasant 45-26.(Photo: Tom Wilson/Eagle-Gazette)

“The last two days of practice coach has been telling us that our defense would win us the game,” said Evans, who finished with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. “We just had to sit down and guard. We struggled a little on offense, but we only gave up 13 points at halftime, and that is good. We definitely won this game at the defensive end.”

The Aces were even more stingy at the defensive end in the third quarter. Leading 19-17, Amanda-Clearcreek then held the Spartans scoreless for the final six minutes of the third quarter. The Aces finished the quarter on an 11-0 run to take command and a 30-17 lead into the third quarter.

The Spartans shot just 5 of 19 from the field in the first half, and in the third quarter, they were just 1 of 10. For the game, the Aces limited them to 10 of 37 shooting from the field.

Junior Courtney Young picked up the slack, offensively, as she finished with a career-high 19 points, including eight in the third quarter. Young made 7 of 8 from the field and was 5 of 7 from the free throw line. She also had five rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Young also was outstanding on defense, holding the Spartans' Leah Maniaci to only one field goal and four points. She had been averaging 17.3 points per game.

“Courtney played really well,” James said. “We knew they were going to key on Alyssa so we worked a lot on the slip screens to where it looks like it is going to Alyssa but Courtney is taking the ball to the rim. We worked hard on that this week because we had to have something different to allow Courtney to get to the basket.

Young said she knew the Spartans would focus on Evans and that someone would have to step up, but she said it has kind of been that way all season.

“It has been like that all year,” said Young, who celebrated her 17th birthday on Friday. “Obviously, they are going to guard Alyssa harder than the rest of us and they were going to key on her like most teams do. I knew that someone else had to step up and I’m glad I was able to do it.”

Brooke Bolin had a solid game for the Aces as she finished with four points, five rebounds and four assists and Kendall Hunter added five points. Riley Stoneburner didn’t score, but she was outstanding on defense in the paint.

“These kids have worked really hard all season, James said. “I tried to fight all year long of us not being a one-player team. When (Alyssa) plays really well, we are usually successful, but tonight we showed that we have more than just her. We have really come along way into developing other players.”

Carlie Craycraft led the Spartans with seven points and Erika Linder finished with six.